Daily Archives: April 20, 2009


NPR?

Is it National Public Radio or National Pandering Radio?
Today NPR broadcast another story on the drug war; this time around the idea of marijuana legalization. The story does little more than pander to the thugs and criminals who make their living from the drug war.
No, I do not mean those nasty cartels.
I mean the federal, state and local government infrastructure that thrives on the so called drug war.
End this war and not only will a dent be put into the cartels operation but we will be able to undo great swathes of government.
Republicans and democrats alike support things like the drug war. Republicans because it is a way to increase the presence of the police state under the guise of law and order. Democrats because, well, the drug war to them is a wonderful tool to expand their precious government: more police, more jails, more clogged courtrooms, more programs for this and for that.
I listen to NPR a lot. There really aren’t any consistently good alternatives if you want a heavy dose of news and insightful talk (lots of the latter on KUOW).
Unfortunately on issues like the drug war, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan War, the financial meltdown, etc., NPR parses closer to the line of the DC administration du jour than either the left or the right would like to admit.
At least it is not the blatant ideological drivel that so often pops up on left and right talk radio.

Via Radley Balko.